Artificial intelligence is everywhere these days — in art, in conversation, in journalism, and even in the halls of Congress. Seems we've never seen cultural disruption like we're about to see with AI, which leads me back, as so many things do, to Sting. Specifically, to these lines from "If Ever I Lose My Faith in You" from the quaint 1990s:
I never saw no miracle of science/
That didn't go from a blessing to a curse
So add AI to the list of factors that seem poised to annihilate life as we know it. You have to wonder, is there any hope? Is hope even worth having?
Ted Lasso would have something nice to say on the matter. In the meantime, I guess it's up to every individual to answer. Some of us have to think harder than others. After a serious bit of cogitation, what I decided was that hope makes little sense, but hopelessness makes none.
We need hope. It's not the last bus out of a godforsaken town, but it is the gas in the bus.
Metaphor switcheroo: We can't just wish for hope, we have to cultivate it through action. I hate this part; I'm lazy and I kill mere houseplants. But having hope these days seems to depend not JUST on our willingness to plant literal flower bulbs as the weather turns harsh — although such common expressions of optimism remain essential at the soul level. It's also about taking one or two regular actions, big or small, in the general direction of saving the world.
In spite of it all, we must assume we'll live to retire and save for retirement. And we write letters to people with power. We must assume our kids will have a future that will require them to hold jobs, and we send them to college. And we run for office. Or march, if that's our jam. Or write letters. If we happen to have actual high-level training, we apply it to taking down Godzilla.
And we train for a 10k or learn another language or buy more books or whatever else brings joy to the day.
We don't do ALL the things, because we're already exhausted. But we pick a few meaningful actions for ourselves and one or two on behalf society in general, and in that way we keep our own personal hope feedback loop running.
Hope is not always rewarded, but it outperforms hopelessness every time.
By the way, as it turns out, Ted does have something to say on the matter, season 1 episode 10. "It's the hope that kills you. Y'all know that? I disagree, you know? I think it's the lack of hope that comes and gets you. See, I believe in hope."
Me too, Ted.